Woman sues The Amazing Race for invading her privacySunday, May 06, 2007

During one of the legs of The Amazing Race 5 (Charla and Mirna’s original season), the contestants found themselves in the Kilimanjaro International Airport. Now, The Amazing Race visits a lot of airports, so this wasn’t anything unusual…at least at the time. But now the show’s being sued over the episode.

An article in the Arusha Times, a newspaper in Tanzania, says that Stella Mwanyika, a ground hostess at Kilimanjaro International Airport, is suing CBS, producers of The Amazing Race, for an amount equal to two million dollars, stating that they invaded her privacy by, among other things, “Taking her photographs without her consent and against her will and amidst her protest; publishing the said photographs without her consent and against her will; and broadcasting the documentary "The Amazing Race" without her consent or knowledge.”

She hopes to claim “aggravated and exemplary damages” because CBS made a profit from broadcasting the episode in which she appears, and is also hoping to get an injunction stopping CBS from broadcasting The Amazing Race.

CBS says they won’t pay the woman the amount she’s asking for, and their attorneys say that after looking at the raw footage of the episode of The Amazing Race, they did not find any “protest” or refusal to be taped.

"Instead, it shows [Ms Mwanyika] staring directly into the lens of at least one of the production crew's very large and visible cameras without any objection and also smiling and acknowledging the camera,” said the attorneys on behalf of CBS.

"She, among other things, asked whether she could get a copy of the tape for herself ... all of which amount to a very clear implicit consent for the program to tape and use her image."